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Who Else Wants To Know About A Japanese Garden?

My husband loves outdoor fish ponds. I love the idea of a Japanese garden. When we decided to build our own pond in our backyard, we considered several options. I suggested a Japanese garden and my husband was less than excited about it. I drew up a sketch of the oriental landscape with a pond full of Koi fish. He reluctantly agreed to the design and we got to work.

The first task was to dig a ditch for the pond for our Japanese garden. After we weeded the area and made a good sized ditch, we visited to our local home and garden store and purchased a plastic pond mold. These are black in color and aid in protecting the fish from being subjected to the soil and cement materials that are often used.

We took our pond mold home and began to dig out the shape of the mold in our ditch. We completed the dig and inserted the pond mold. We were well on our way to having a fishpond with a Japanese garden theme. I began to gather the desired plants to give an oriental style.

I was able to find several types of reeds and short filler plants for the Japanese garden. I chose stones that were a brownish-orange in color for the landscaping project. We went down to a stream in our yard and gathered several flat rocks. We placed the flat rock around the rim of the pond and took care that we had them hang over the pond mold.

The task of decorating the Japanese garden came next. I noticed that with an actual Japanese garden, less is more. I decided to limit myself to one more plant and two statues. I chose a small Dojo house and an oriental statue that symbolizes tranquility. I found these online. I made sure to leave a lot of space between the various decorative elements.

After looking over our efforts I felt there was something missing. I needed a bonsai tree but I knew that one would never thrive in my climate. I found a fake bonsai tree that was remarkably realistic.

The bonsai tree was the perfect addition to the scene and it really tied everything together. We filled the pond with water and let it set up for a week. We finally added a few small Koi fish. The fish pond made an absolutely beautiful Japanese garden.